Gamer Mom & Other Wacky Quirks

So, I’ve been wanting to get the Wii. Who hasn’t? I’ve been very patient, however.

I waited during the initial rush,

I waited during the first Christmas season,

I waited throughout the year while demand was still high and stock still low,

I waited a SECOND Christmas season, now I’d like a Wii!

GameStop had a great thing where you could by a raincheck and have a Wii by mid-January. I was literally outside of the store getting ready to buy one when hubby told me not to. He was sure that after the Christmas rush was over, demand would die down, we’d find one easy. Nothing I had read made me confident that it would happen. I knew he was wrong, but I wasn’t willing to start an argument over a toy.

Nintendo, it seemed, couldn’t keep up with demand. Demand that was fueled by overindulgent parents and greedy ebayers, aka Wii Scalpers.

I blame those two groups primarily because they feed off each other. There are parents out there who feel their kids must have everything and they must have it now! Cost, generally, isn’t an issue. That’s where the ebayers step in. There are throngs of people with (apparently) nothing but time on their hands. Why get a job when you can camp out at Best Buy, Toys R Us, Walmart and various other outlets? From there you take your newly acquired toy that cost $250 and sell it for $500, $600, $700! It’s a vicious cycle. Actually, it’s an awesome cycle if you’ve got a lot of spare time and Wii’s on your hands.

I’ve been researching and hunting and having no luck.

-I’ve signed up on itrackr.com. No luck there yet.

-My uncle works at a Walmart and he gave me a heads up on a delivery, no luck…sold out before hubby got there (within minutes of delivery).

-Called every Kmart, Walmart, GameStop, Target, etc. No dice.

-Checked Craigslist, they're available, but just like ebay...there's a huge markup.

Basically, I’m not getting a Wii anytime soon unless I’m amazingly lucky and happen to walk by an electronics counter just as the magical Wii Delivery Truck ™ pulls in.

I refuse to camp out for a toy and I refuse to pay $150 over retail (minimum). I guess I’ll just keep sitting it out. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll find one…or I’ll win the lottery.

--------------UPDATE-------------------
Well, I finally got a Wii. I didn't do anything crafty, I just finally caved and found one on ebay. I still held firm and didn't buy one from a scalper. I found a guy who had one for cost ($275 which is close with tax). He also happened to be local to me. I made an offer and picked it up the same day. It worked out great!

One of the tips I've learned actually did help me in part of my quest. Accessories are almost as hard to find for the Wii as the actual system. Target seems to never have the remotes and nunchucks in stock. One tool their website has is you can search a product's availability in your area. I knew we wanted the Nerf sports set so I checked Target.com. One of the options is to "Find it at a Target Store". It showed that one of my local Target's had it so I zipped over. Of course, there were NONE out. No one was around to ask so I looked at the place where it would have been and wrote down the product number. I then walked over to one of those price checker thingies and keyed in the number. Surprise! It showed there were some in the stockroom. I found a girl and asked her for one. She initially tried to say they were out. HA! I told her what the scanner said and sure enough, when she radioed to the back, they had some. Score!

I had heard that Toys R Us keeps a decent stock of the accessories and I stopped there to check. Sure enough, they had plenty nunchuk's and WiiPlay sets (basically a remote +9 games for $10 more than the remote alone).

This won't help you get a Wii, but hopefully you have better luck than I did.